I»AM. 
%,  AMER. 


I 


FIRST-HAND  GLIMPSES 
OF  CUBA 


4  4  T  T  PON  landing-  in  Cuba — yes,  before  landing — one  realizes 
that  he  is  in  a  foreign  country — foreign  in  its  legacy 
J  of  language,  religion,  and  ideals,  or  lack  of  ideals ;  a 
foreign  language  of  great  richness  and  sweetness,  won¬ 
derful  in  its  power  of  polite  compliment,  indirectness,  and  non¬ 
commitment,  but  pitifully  poor  in  words  adapted  to  spiritual  wor¬ 
ship  and  plain  truth-telling ;  a  language  which  has  dragged  down 
holy  names  and  things  to  the  level  of  the  common  and  dishon¬ 
orable.”  In  Santiago  I  saw  a  dirty,  filthy,  miserable  little  tobacco 
shop  that  had  this  sign,  “The  Peace  of  God,”  and  a  whisky  shop 
called  “My  Eden.”  The  beggar  in  the  street  is  “Jesus,”  the 
prisoner  in  the  criminal’s  cell  is  “Salvador,”  the  dirtyr  little  town 
is  “Christo”  (Christ)  or  “Trinidad”  (The  Trinity),  a  street 
Jesus  del  Sol”  (Jesus  of  the  Sun),  etc..  “All  high  things  are 
degraded,  all  pure  things  are  defiled.  The  terminology  of  the 
pure  things  of  heaven  is  put  upon  the  unclean  things  of  earth. 
All  moral  ideas  are  confused,  all  moral  values  are  debased,  and  all 
moral  standards  are  overturned.” 

What  has  Cuba  in  her  legacy  of  religion?  Relying  upon  the 
ignorance  of  the  people,  Rome  has  refused  them  the  Bible,  and 
has  left  them  in  such  ignorance  as  to  guarantee  her  hold  on  the 
common  people  through  their  superstition.  (The  statistics  of 
1900  tell  us  that  in  the  town  and  district  of  Guantanamo  eighty- 
five  per  cent  of  the  people  could  neither  read  nor  write !  My 

(3) 


4 


First-Hand  Glimpses  of  Guba 


observation  persuades  me  that  this  is  a  conservative  estimate.) 
Now  and  then  I  am  running  upon  people  that  do  not  know  what 
I  mean  when  I  ask  them  if  they  have  a  Bible.  They  have  never 
seen  nor  read  it,  nor  even  heard  it  read.  When  we  put  it  in  the 
hands  of  the  people,  it  appeals  to  them.  We  tell  them  to  read  it 
and  see  for  themselves  what  their  Father  wants  them  to  be  and 
do.  They  accept  it,  and  it  strikes  home.  Last  summer  Brother 
Llopis,  a  colporteur  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  was  with 
me  for  a  while,  and  in  our  house-to-house  work  quite  often  he 
read  the  seventh  chapter  of  Matthew  with  the  clause :  “And  why 
beholdest  thou  the  mote  that  is  in  thy  brother’s  eye,  but  consid- 
erest  not  the  beam  that  is  in  thine  own  eye?”  In  one  cigar  fac- 
ory  here,  a  small  one,  the  owner  said:  “That’s  just  it;  it  looks 
as  if  you  had  come  here  to  put  a  comment  on  the  subject  of  our 
conversation.”  Upon  being  assured  that  neither  of  us  had  ever 
seen  him  or  heard  of  him  before,  he  bought  a  Testament,  saying 
'as  we  left:  “Please  be  kind  enough  to  read  this  gospel  all  along 
this  street.”  They  have  little  else  to  read  as  a  whole,  and  they 
read  the  Bible  when  it  falls  into  their  hands. 

Another  part  of  their  legacy  was  the  fact  that  their  religion 
was  Sabbathless.  Instead  of  having  a  holy  day  of  Sunday,  it  is  a 
holiday — the  gala  day  here.  The  social  and  political  clubs  make 
Sunday  night  their  great  reception  and  dance  night.  It  is  the 
time  of  the  largest  attendance  upon  the  theaters.  Every  Sunday 
night  the  plazas  or  public  parks  are  full  of  people,  who  come  to 
listen  to  the  municipal  bands  that  play  there  every  Sunday  night 
from  eight  to  ten.  On  the  occasion  of  Santa  Catalina’s  day — she 
being  the  patron  saint  of  this  town — falling  on  Sunday,  the 
largest  of  the  social  clubs  of  the  town  had  a  great  ball  in  her 
honor  on  Saturday  night,  continuing  until  Sunday  morning,  and 
the  Spanish  club  continued  it  on  Sunday  night.  Last  year  the  pub¬ 
lic  elections  for  Senators  and  Congressmen  from  this  province  to 


First-Hand  Glimpses  of  Cuba 


5 


the  national  Congress  were  held  on  Sunday,  because  Sunday 
afternoon  is  a  holiday,  and  they  expected  a  larger  vote  on  that 
account!  I  have  seen,  running  full  blast  all  day  Sunday,  picture 
galleries,  shooting  galleries,  tailor  shops,  women  sewing  in  their 
homes,  laundering,  baseball,  picnics,  kirmesses,  etc.  I  have  seen 
the  Americans  at  tennis,  fishing,  butterfly-hunting,  riding,  running 
railroad  excursions,  and  providing  for  the  Cubans  baseball,  races, 
etc.  I  have  known  of  Americans  running  wheels  of  fortune, 
roulette,  boxing  matches,  cards,  etc.,  for  the  edification  (?)  of 
our  American  sailors. 

They  further  inherited  in  their  religion  image  worship  or,  bet¬ 
ter  said,  idolatry.  I  have  dropped  in  here  at  the  church  in 
Guantanamo,  and  in  the  public  prayers  I  hear  the  name  of  the 
Virgin  one  hundred  times  to  every  one  time  that  God’s  name  or 
Jesus’s  is  called.  Nearly  every  woman  has  her  patron  saint,  and 
has  in  her  room  an  image  of  that  saint,  to  which  she  prays  and 
before  which  she  burns  candles.  I  spent  the  Christmas  Eve  night 
of  1903  at  Santiago  de  Cuba.  About  midnight  there  was  quite 
an  amount  of  noise,  which  was  found  to  come  from  a  crowd  of 
people  who  were  following  an  image  of  Judas  Iscariot  which  was 
being  carried  through  the  streets  by  a  Romish  priest,  while  the 
drunken  and  excited  mob  were  yelling  'at  it  and  hurling  curses 
and  imprecations  at  it,  with  a  mixture  of  mud,  stones,  and  sticks, 
all  because  the  person  represented  by  the  image  had  betrayed  their 
Lord,  whom  they  were  worshiping  (?)  by  their  midnight  per¬ 
formance.  That  afternoon  Brother  Fletcher  and  I  were  walking 
near  our  mission  house  there,  on  our  way  home,  when  we  were 
attracted  by  two  nuns  who  were  following  a  little  wagon  such  as 
many  American  boys  get  from  Santa  Claus  at  Christmas  time,  in 
which  was  what  at  first  I  thought  was  a  large  doll.  Being  inter¬ 
ested,  we  drew  nearer,  and  discovered  that  it  was  an  image  of 
the  infant  Jesus  that  was  being  carried  to  the  cathedral  for  the 


6 


First-Hand  Glimpses  of  Cuba 


morrow.  Upon  going  there  on  the  morrow  we  found  this  little 
image  placed  in  front  of  the  painting  of  Joseph,  his  father,  and 
near  it  a  box  for  offerings  to  the  image.  I  saw  many  dollars  go 
into  it  as  I  stood  and  watched.  Brother  Llopis,  the  colporteur 
referred  to  above,  told  me:  “You  will  know  a  Roman  Catholic 
Spaniard  by  his  blaspheming  the  name  of  God,  and  at  the  same 
time  you  will  see  around  his  neck  a  scapulary  of  ‘El  Carmen,’ 
joined  to  a  medal  blessed  of  the  rosary.”  And  I  have  noted  that 

t 

nearly  every  Cuban  child  wears  around  its  neck  a  little  medal  with 
an  enameled  or  engraved  image  of  the  Madonna. 

Lastly,  they  received  with  their  religious  legacy  a  corrupt  priest¬ 
hood  and  religion.  I  walked  into  a  house  at  Caimanera,  a  town 
on  my  work,  a  few  days  since,  and  was  met  at  the  door  by  the 
lady  of  the  house  in  person,  and  upon  seeing  me  she  said :  “No, 
you  can’t  come  in ;  you  are  Protestant.”  In  reply  I  asked  her 
if  she  had  a  Bible,  and  she  didn't  know  what  that  was.  I  asked 
her  if  she  had  the  New  Testament,  and  she  still  didn’t  under¬ 
stand  me.  I  asked  again:  “What  religious  books  have  you?” 
She  said:  “I  have  a  life  of  the  Virgin  and  some  lives  of  the 
saints.”  She  turned  about  and  showed  me  the  picture  of  the 
Madonna  that  she  had,  and  the  image  of  her  saint,  with  the 
half-burned  candles,  etc.  When  I  asked,  “But  don’t  you  want 
the  life  of  Christ  and  the  acts  of  his  apostles?”  she  replied,  “I 
don’t  want  anything  you  have;  I  don’t  need  your  Bible.”  And 
yet  she  is  a  terror  in  the  community ! 

“At  Punta  Alegre,  Brother  Torres,  another  Bible  colporteur, 
sold  a  Bible  to  a  man,  and  afterwards  another  to  his  sister,  who, 
as  they  conversed,  told  Torres  her  troubles.  She  was  trying  to 
build  a  chapel  for  Roman  Catholic  worship ;  the  cura  had  come 
and  taken  $150  in  gold  for  baptisms.  She  asked  him  for  a  con¬ 
tribution  for  her  chapel,  and  was  promised  two  centenes  ($10). 
He  afterwards  went  card-playing,  won  more  than  $200,  and  went 


First-Hand  Glimpses  of  Guba 


7 


away  giving  her  nothing  toward  the  building  she  was  trying  to 
erect.  Then  Torres  spoke  to  her  about  the  truth;  and  though 
she  was  taken  aback  at  first  to  know  that  he  was  a  Protestante, 
she  became  reconciled  to  it,  and  at  last  to  the  keeping  and  read¬ 
ing  of  a  Protestant  Bible.” 


Experiences  in  Jamaica. 

One  day  Brother  Fletcher,  of  Santiago,  was  oyer  to  spend  the 
day  with  me,  and  in  the  afternoon  we  went  out  to  Jamaica.  This 
is  a  town  of  some  fifteen  hundred  people,  situated  in  the  Guan¬ 
tanamo  Valley  and  surrounded  by  sugar  estates.  It  was  raining 
when  we  reached  there,  so  we  went  up  to  the  shell  of  the  aban¬ 
doned  Catholic  church.  Having  a  good  tile  roof,  it  leaked  very 
little.  .We  found  a  Cuban  family  living  in  the  vestry  rooms ; 
the  seats  had  been  removed  some  years  before,  though  the  high 
reading  stand,  or  pulpit,  reached  by  a  winding  staircase,  still 
stood;  the  woodwork  of  the  crucifix  and  other  paraphernalia  be¬ 
hind  the  altar  were  also  standing.  The  Catholics  having  had  no 
service  there  since  some  years  before  their  last  war,  the  natives 
have  torn  off  and  carried  away  almost  all  of  one  side  of  the 
building.  The  people  living  there  now  use  the  auditorium  as 
a  washhouse,  with  drying  wires  stretched  across  its  open  side. 
A  coarse  canvas  hammock  was  swung  from  the  pulpit  post  to 
one  of  the  altar  posts,  and  another  between  the  altar  posts  them¬ 
selves.  Seats  being  offered  us,  we  sat  down  and  had  a  talk  with 
the  family,  Brother  Fletcher  reading  a  portion  of  the  Scriptures 
and  discussing  it  with  them.  While  we  talked,  a  hen  and  her 
chicks,  busy  seeking  food,  clucked  and  chattered  at  their  work. 
A  dog  dozing  upon  the  altar  platform  had  his  nap  interrupted  to 
run  a  hog  out  of  the  house. 

As  Brother  Fletcher  and  I  talked  of  the  desolation  and  de¬ 
struction  wrought  there  by  time  and  neglect — a  house  of  wor- 


8 


First-Hand  Glimpses  of  Cuba 


ship  forsaken  of  God,  well-nigh  forsaken  of  man — we  thought 
of  the' curse  of  God  upon  shepherds  who  refuse  to  feed  the  flock, 
and  the  anathema  of  Paul  upon  those  who  preach  “another  gos¬ 
pel.”  How  we  longed  to  call  the  people  together  and  tell  them 
of  Jesus  and  his  salvation  ! 

As  we  started  out  for  our  train  the  mud  and  water  made  every¬ 
thing  as  slick  as  only  Cuban  mud  can.  We  were  reeling  like 
drunken  men  in  our  effort  to  avoid  a  fall.  Near  the  railroad  sta¬ 
tion  Brother  Fletcher  came  near  falling,  and  as  I  turned  to 
look  at  him  and  laugh  I  made  a  misstep,  and,  in  my  effort  to  catch, 
went  sprawling  in  the  mud  and  water  of  the  street.  I  was  wet 
and  muddy  from  hat  to  shoes.  And  such  mud !  The  muddy 
water  ran  down  my  neck  and  up  my  sleeves !  In  this  plight  I 
had  to  ride  home  on  the  train.  Although  a  family  living  near  the 
depot  there  kindly  gave  me  soap  and  water  to  wash  the  mud  from 
my  face  and  hands,  as  I  walked  through  the  streets  of  Guantana¬ 
mo  on  my  way  home  from  the  train  I  looked  more  like  a  man 
fresh  from  a  drunken  spree  than  a  Christian  pastor  about  his  work. 

On  another  trip  out  to  Jamaica  I  took  along  some  Bibles  and 
Testaments,  hoping  to  sell  some,  and  thus  put  the  Bibles  in  the 
homes.  I  went  into  some  thirty  homes,  finding  but  one  Bible 
and  one  Testament,  and  only  eight  of  the  thirty  families  had 
anybody  in  them  who  could  read !  Some  of  the  adults  had  never 
seen  a  Bible,  and  many  of  the  children  did  not  know  what  I  was 
talking  about.  What  a  privilege  to  put  God’s  Word  where  it 
has  never  been  known !  What  a  privilege  to  tell  them  of  the  un¬ 
searchable  riches  of  Christ !  And  yet  what  a  responsibility ! 

A  few  weeks  after  this  second  visit,  Dr.  Carter,  our  superin¬ 
tendent,  came  over  here  to  help  me  organize  work  in  some  of  the 
neighboring  towns,  and  among  them  Jamaica.  I  had  previously 
secured  the  most  suitable  house  available — a  house  seating  about 
one  hundred  people.  The  morning  of  the  day  that  we  went 


First-Hand  Glimpses  of  Guba 


9 


out  to  have  our  first  service  there,  we  went  early,  in  order  to 
thoroughly  advertise  the  meeting.  That  night  the  people  soon 
filled  the  seats  and  the  standing  room  inside.  They  then  stood 
around  the  doors  and  windows,  and  when  Dr.  Carter  began  to 
preach  he  had  at  least  two  hundred  attentive  hearers  who  were 


A  GROUP  OF  CUBAN  CHILDREN  WHO  NEED  EDUCATION. 

having  their  first  gospel  sermon.  I  am  now  going  there  as  one 
of  my  regular  preaching  places. 

At  Jamaica  I  had  perhaps  the  very  best  opening  in  all  my 
work,  unless  I  should  put  Guantanamo  on  the  same  basis.  We 
sowed  down  the  place  with  more  than  one  hundred  Testaments, 
besides  some  twenty-five  hymn  books,  and  the  people  were  won 


10 


First-Hand  Glimpses  of  Cuba 


over  to  giving  me  an  attentive  hearing.  But  suddenly  the  Roman 

% 

Catholics  began  to  realize  the  situation.  The  archbishop  of  San¬ 
tiago  sent  a  man  over  to  begin  work  in  Jamaica.  He  raised 
money  enough  to  repair  the  old,  abandoned  church,  and  the  fol¬ 
lowing  Sunday  he  began  operations. 

He  had  the  school  children  to  lead  a  grand  procession,  the 
boys  bravely  armed  with  wooden  guns,  the  girls  carrying  arm¬ 
fuls  of  paper  flowers,  and  after  this  advance  guard  came  a  small 
band  from  Guantanamo,  followed  by  two  young  ladies  carrying 
the  two  images  of  the  Church — that  of  the  Virgin,  and  one  of 
San  Antonio,  the  patron  saint  of  the  Church.  Who  but  the  new 
padre  himself,  arms  locked  with  the  wealthiest  Spaniard  of  the 
town,  walked  next?  and  after  them  the  whole  populace  of  the 
town  and  neighborhood.  Reaching  the  church  with  this  elab¬ 
orate  procession,  they  had  a  sort  of  dedicatory  prayer,  and  then 
dispersed.  In  the  afternoon  they  had  a  ball  game,  and  at  night 
and  all  the  following  day  and  night  the  usual  “bade.” 

He  made  it  impossible  for  me  to  use  the  clubhouse  in  Jamaica 
that  I  have  been  using  for  my  meetings,  so  I  went  to  a  private 
house  and  there  held  my  service.  I  arranged  for  another  club¬ 
house,  however,  for  my  next  service,  and  the  work  went  on. 
How  much  a  small  chapel  would  be  worth  in  the  work ! 

This  priest  who  was  sent  out  to  Jamaica  to  interfere  with 
what  I  was  trying  to  do  there  is  quite  an  intelligent  man,  but  is 
almost  always  filthy  because  drunk.  I  saw  him  during  Christmas 
week,  at  the  close  of  a  three  days’  spree,  after  a  night  in  the 
ditch,  being  led  to  his  room  by  a  friend.  His  tunic  was  cov¬ 
ered  with  mud  and  vomit,  and  he  was  a  most  repulsive  sight. 
Last  week  a  woman  came  to  me  and  said:  “What  must  I  do? 
I  went  to  have  my  baby  baptized,  and  the  padre  was  too  drunk 
to  do  it,  and  told  me  to  come  back,  but  he  is  still  drinking.” 

I  need  not  dwell  upon  the  sickening  immorality  among  these 


First-Hand  Glimpses  of  Cuba 


11 


priests ;  it  is  patent  to  every  observer.  What  must  be  the  effect 
of  such  things  on  the  lives  and  thoughts  of  the  people?  Let 
me  give  in  illustration  an  experience  that  Brother  Llopis  had 
among  certain  gallegoes  (Spaniards  from  Galicia  Province) 
who  were  working  in  the  copper  mine  at  El  Cobre,  in  this 
province.  Having  previously  obtained  permission  to  talk  with 
them  and  try  to  sell  them  Bibles,  he  went  down  one  morning  to 
the  mines  and,  finding  about  fifty  of  them  in  one  gang,  com¬ 
menced  to’ read  the  Word  of  God.  Says  he:  “They  began  to 
curse  and  blaspheme,  cursing  the  curas.  I  told  them  that  the 
evangelical  propaganda  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  Romish  cler¬ 
gy  ;  but  it  was  impossible  to  quiet  those  unfortunate,  ignorant 
men  possessed  of  the  devil,  for  they  threw  with  fierce  anger 
against  the  rocks  the  bottles  in  which  their  coffee  and  milk  had 
been  brought,  breaking  nearly  every  one  of  them,  which  was  not 
usual,  but  was  done  to  ease  their  angry  feelings.  I  went  away 
from  that  place  of  darkness  saddened  at  heart,  and  the  mouth 
of  the  mine  seemed  to  me  the  door  of  hell ;  and  in  seeing  from 
afar  those  men  going  down,  it  had  the  effect  upon  me  as  if  they 
were  descending  into  hell,  and  I  lifted  my  soul*  in  fervent  prayer 
for  them.”  This  was  passing  st, range,  for  a  few  months  later 
the  mines  were  flooded  in  our  storms  of  last  summer,  and  many 
of  the  miners  were  drowned.  It  looks  as  if  a  yearning  Provi¬ 
dence  had  sent  the  messenger  of  peace  to  them. 

The  more  thoughtful  of  the  men  have  drifted  into  materialism, 
agnosticism,  and  infidelity.  It  was  Romanism  of  the  type  re¬ 
ferred  to,  or  nothing.  I  can  hardly  blame  them  for  refusing  the 
former.  This,  then,  is  the  general  result:  Indifferentism  among 
certain  classes,  and  minds  made  up  that,  for  the  sake  of  old  ties 
and  old  times,  they  must  remain  Roman  Catholics ;  opposition  in 
other  quarters,  and  out  in  the  country  and  among  the  common 
people  plenty  of  good  will  and  open  reception  of  the  truth.  Still 
“the  common  people  hear  him  gladly.” 


i 


12 


First-Hand  Glimpses  of  Cuba 


Truly  Cuba’s  heritage  as  to  religion  was  “a  religion  without 
morals ;  a  religion  of  pageant,  ceremonial,  and  procession ;  of 
sensuous  forms;  of  tinseled,  tawdry  images,  lying  wonders,  and 
profane  fables.  She  [Rome]  sealed  up  the  fountains  of  life  and 
denied  to  the  people  the  word  of  life,  the  Holy  Book  of  God. 
She  left  a  priesthood  that  arrogantly  claimed  an  absolute  monop¬ 
oly  of  the  grace  of  God  and  to  be  sole  agents  of  heaven  to  open 
the  gates  of  salvation — a  priesthood  ignorant,  arrogant,  tyran¬ 
nical,  that  turned  the  sacraments  into  simony,  marriage  into  con¬ 
cubinage,  and  gave  to  the  poor  a  bone  pit  for  a  grave  in  a  corner 
of  the  consecrated  cemetery.  What  good  fruit  can  grow  on  such 
a  corrupt  tree?” 

Into  this  condition  of  drifting  opinions,  superstitions,  Roman 
idolatry,  and  sin  we  are  putting  the  only  solvent  that  has  power 
to  precipitate  honesty,  truth,  and  purity  in  national,  family,  and 
private  life — the  Word  of  God.  But  Rome  is  waking  to  this  fact, 
and  stirring  herself.  Where  formerly  we  were  ignored,  now  we 
are  combated  with  her  old  cries.  The  priest  at  Jamaica  tells  the 
common  people  that  I  am  a  devil  with  horns !  Again  he  tells 
them:  “Yes,  he  is  a  Protestant — one  who  protests  against  God.” 
In  other  parts  of  this  province  Spanish  friars  are  attributing  to 
us  motives  of  wanting  to  annex  the  island  to  the  United  States. 
They  say  different  things  in  different  places,  fitting  false  rumors 
to  places.  Enough  to  show  that  they  are  making  extraordinary 
efforts  to  retain  their  grasp  on  the  people — a  grasp  that  they 
recognize  as  slipping  away  from  them. 

Cuba  needs  to  learn  that  religion  lies  not  in  sacerdotalkm,  nor 
salvation  in  the  words  or  hand  of  a  priest.  The  people  are  giving 
us  a  hearing,  and  more  towns  are  beckoning  to  us  for  help  than 
we  can  possibly  reach.  Bishop  Candler,  in  a  letter  to  the  Chris¬ 
tian  Advocate  of  February  2,  1905,  says:  “Brethren  were  sent 
without  help  who  sorely  need  assistants.  Their  health  is  threat- 


First-Hand  Glimpses  of  Guba 


13 


ened  by  overwork,  and  their  success  limited  and  hindered  by 
lack  of  helpers.  I  was  under  the  painful  necessity  of  calling  a 
halt  when  our  recent  victory  required  that  I  should  have  ordered 
a  charge.  I  told  the  brethren  to  open  no  more  new  work  until 
I  could  reenforce  them.”  Yet,  in  the  face  of  the  Roman  awaken¬ 
ing,  one  man  now  could  be  of  more  value  than  several  after  a  little 
more  delay.  Cuba  needs  a  holy  book,  a  holy  day,  a  holy  Church. 
We  are  showing  this  need,  and  the  people  are  responding. 

The  Bible  Single-Handed. 

In  the  summer  I  had  working  with  me  a  colporteur  of  the 
American  Bible  Society,  a  Spaniard  and  a  Christian.  We  spent 
an  entire  month  in  Guantanamo  and  the  outlying  territory,  going 
into  each  of  the  houses  in  this  and  the  other  towns  in  my  district, 
having  prayer  in  most,  and  reading  at  least  a  portion  of  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  in  practically  all.  The  immediate  results  were  the  putting 
of  more  than  nine  hundred  Bibles  and  portions  thereof  into  the 
hands  of  these  people,  and  incidentally  I  made  a  memorandum  of 
those  whom  I  thought  most  inclined  to  Protestantism  and  real 
Christianity.  I  am  now  working  that  list  of  thirty  families. 

Let  me  relate  one  among  the  various  incidents  of  that  work. 
Last  year  this  same  colporteur  was  here  and  went  into  the  house 
of  a  French  family.  He  was  met  at  the  door  by  the  grown 
daughter  of  the  home.  Upon  seeing  who  he  was,  she  said:  “You 
can’t  come  in  here,  and  we  don’t  want  any  of  your  Protestant 
Bibles.” 

“I  haven’t  a  Protestant  or  a  Catholic  Bible,”  he  replied.  “I 
have  the  Word  of  God.” 

“Well,  we  don’t  want  to  buy  anything  from  a  Protestant.” 

“I  want,  then,  to  make  you  a  present  of  a  Testament,”  he  an¬ 
swered;  “and  will  you  not  bow  your  head  with  me  while  I  ask 
God  to  bless  his  Word  and  this  house?” 


14 


First-Hand  Glimpses  of  Cuba 


She  made  no  open  refusal,  but  took  the  Bible  and  he  went  his 
way.  Coming  back  into  the  home  this  year,  he  found  that  the 
young  woman,  her  elder  brother,  and  her  old  mother  had  each 
read  that  Testament  thoroughly,  and  had  forsaken  Catholicism 
and  sin  and  were  reaching  out  after  God.  I  have  been  around  to 
their  home  many  times  since  then,  trying  to  guide  them  in  their 
search,  which  I  believe  the  young  girl  and  her  brother  have  suc¬ 
cessfully  ended.  This  daughter  of  the  house  showed  rrte  finally  a 
mantle  that  she  had  made  for  the  Virgin  of  Charity,  the  wooden 
doll  of  El  Cobre.  It  was  beautifully  and  extravagantly  made  aft¬ 
er  the  luxurious  style  of  Roman  Catholicism  and  its  image  wor¬ 
ship,  twenty  yards  of  fine  velvet  having  gone  into  its  folds,  and 
spangled  all  over  it  are  stars  of  gold  embroidery,  laboriously 
worked  by  hand,  and  its  fringe  of  glittering  golden  threads.  It 
was  valued — and  no  wonder — at  more  than  three  hundred  dollars. 
“This,”  she  said  to  me  as  she  brought  it  out,  “can  never  be  worn 
or  used  by  any  image  now,  for  it  belongs  to  Christ.” 

Three  hundred  dollars  would  have  meant  much  in  that  house¬ 
hold.  Who,  then,  can  tell  what  will  be  the  result  of  the  more 
than  nine  hundred  Bibles  sowed  down  in  this  town  with  faith 
and  prayers?  Somehow,  more  and  more  I  am  believing  in  the 
power  of  the  Bible  itself. 

I  had  my  first  clear-cut  conversion  not  long  ago — that  of  a 
young  Spaniard  whom  I  am  teaching  English.  It  seemed  gen¬ 
uine  and  came  naturally,  just  like  that  of  any  young  man  at  home, 
with  a  confession  and  a  forsaking  of  sin  and  a  consecration  of 
self  and  all  to  God.  He  is  fresh  over  from  Spain,  and  was  for 
seven  years  in  a  Roman  Catholic  monastery  preparing  to  enter 
their  priesthood.  The  thing  was  too  rotten  for  him,  and  he  fled. 
He  knows  Catholicism  and  its  ways,  and  should  be  a  power  in 
dealing  with  it. 

Somehow,  in  spite  of  the  constant  shifting  and  changing  among 


First-Hand  Glimpses  of  Cuba 


15 


the  Americans  here,  I  have  managed  to  collect  on  the  average 
about  forty  dollars  a  month  on  rent  and  running  expenses.  Be¬ 
sides  these  current  expenses,  I  have  within  the  last  quarter  put  in 
on  a  small  scale  a  reading  room  for  the  Americans  of  the  town 
and  for  the  sailors  that  drop  in.  It  is  not  having  a  great  run,  but 
is  doing  a  little  for  that  constituency.  There  was  absolutely  noth¬ 
ing  here  for  them  but  the  hotels,  with  their  bars  and  billiards  and 
gambling'.  Some  of  the  people  sit  out  in  front  of  the  hotels  night 
after  night  for  hours  talking  and  treating.  It  is  from  this  that  I 
am  trying,  in  an  indirect  way,  to  win  them  back. 

While  in  Santiago  some  time  since  Brother  Fletcher  and  I  went 
out  to  San  Juan  Hill  and  to  Morro  Castle,  near  to  which  Hobson 
sank  the  Merrimac,  and  where  the  ships  of  Spain  under  Cervera 
went  down  under  the  cross  fire  from  the  American  guns.  We 
landed  at  the  point  where  Hobson  and  his  men  did,  and  walked 
up  the  path  where  they  were  led  as  captives  going  to  Morro 
Castle.  As  we  walked,  I  meditated  on  the  suffering  and  dying 
of  the  brave  men  at  San  Juan  and  the  abandon  and  self-sacrifice 
to  duty  shown  by  Hobson  and  his  men  that  Cuba  and  her  people 
might  have  political  freedom,  and,  weighing  it,  I  said:  “Yes,  it  is 
worth  the  price.”  At  once  the  thought  flashed  over  my  mind,  “It 
will  take  the  same  abandon,  the  same  suffering  and  dying'  to  buy 
her  spiritual  freedom and  my  soul  answered,  “It  is  worth  the 
price.”  When  our  country  called  for  volunteers  to  gain  political 
freedom  for  this  island,  how  many  said,  “Here  am  I ;  send  me !” 
There  were  great  shouts  as  the  men  passed  by  in  their  uniforfns 
and  with  shining  guns  and  equipment.  Handkerchiefs  fluttered 
in  the  breeze,  army  buttons  and  buckles  were  worn  by  our  women, 
and  enthusiasm  ran  high.  Now  God  and  the  Church  call  for  and 
need  men  and  funds  for  pressing  this  war.  Who  will  say,  “Here 
am  I;  send  me?”  or  who  will  say,  “I  can’t  go,  but  I  will  have 
my  representative  on  the  firing  line?”  In  front  of  Santiago,  at 


16 


First-Hand  Glimpses  of  Cuba 


San  Juan  Hill,  men  died  to  win  a  plague-cursed  city  and  a  coun¬ 
try  in  need  of  millions  of  dollars  of  aid.  How  many  will  give  or 
come  to  win  the  victory  in  the  redemption  of  a  land  that  will  be 
self-sustaining  and  thereby  gain  the  consciousness  of  duty  done? 
Are  you  doing  your  duty  to  Cuba?  “The  King’s  business  re¬ 
quires  haste.” 


Statistics  of  Cuba  Mission,  1905. 

Missionaries,  n;  wives  of  missionaries,  9;  societies,  21;  local  preachers, 
4;  members,  1,472;  total,  1,476. 

Additions  by  profession  of  faith,  472 ;  additions  by  certificate  and  other¬ 
wise,  73;  dismissed  by  certificate,  death,  etc.,  69;  adults  baptized,  462; 
infants  baptized,  169;  candidates,  1,008. 

Church  buildings,  13;  value  of  church  buildings,  $40,300;  parsonages,  4; 
value  of  parsonages,  $3,310;  value  of  other  property,  $2,393.50.  Number 
of  Epworth  Leagues,  9;  members,  416;  amount  collected  by  Leagues  for 
all  purposes,  $156.39. 

Number  of  Sunday  schools,  24;  officers  and  teachers,  100;  pupils  ma¬ 
triculated,  1,310;  amount  collected  for  all  purposes  by  the  Sunday  school, 
$327.10. 

-  Finances. 

Pastor’s  support,  $195.98;  missions,  $515.65;  Church  extension,  $189.54; 
American  Bible  Society,  $50;  incidental  expenses,  $1,928.88;  special  objects, 
$6955-89;  grand  total  for  all  purposes,  $5,308.53. 

General  Board. 

Schools,  4;  American  missionaries  and  teachers,  9;  native  teachers,  9; 
total,  18.  Pupils  matriculated,  41 1;  present  attendance,  330;  received  from 
tuitions,  $5,085.24;  value  of  equipment,  $2,838.54;  value  of  real  estate  and 
buildings,  $32,000. 

- - 

Note. — Where  due  credit  has  not  been  given  in  the  body  of  the  tract, 
the  quotations  are  from  the  address  of  Dr.  D.  W.  Carter  at  the  New  Or¬ 
leans  Conference,  or  from  the  eighty-fourth  annual  report  of  the  Amer¬ 
ican  Bible  Society. 


